To marry someone in the United States, you and your partner need to do four things: confirm you both meet your state’s eligibility rules, apply for a marriage license at the local clerk’s office, hold a ceremony performed by someone legally authorized to officiate, and return the signed license to be recorded. Start to finish, the process can take a single day in places with no waiting period or stretch across a few weeks where waiting periods and document requirements are stricter. The license itself usually costs between $25 and $115.
Make Sure You Both Qualify
Eligibility is the first gate, and a marriage performed without meeting these rules can be voided outright. Both of you need to clear each of the following:
- Age. Both parties generally must be at least 18. Some jurisdictions allow 16- or 17-year-olds to marry with parental consent, a court order, or both. A growing number of states have banned marriage under 18 with no exceptions.
- No existing marriage. Neither of you can already be legally married to someone else. A prior marriage must be ended by divorce, annulment, or the former spouse’s death before a new license will be issued.
- Not closely related. Marriage between parents and children, siblings, and in most places first cousins is prohibited. A few states allow first-cousin marriages under limited circumstances; the restriction on closer relatives is universal.
- Mental capacity and consent. Both people must understand what marriage means and consent voluntarily. A marriage can be challenged later if one party was incapacitated by intoxication, severe mental illness, or coercion at the ceremony.
- Same-sex couples. Marriage between two people of the same sex is legal nationwide. The Respect for Marriage Act, signed in 2022, requires the federal government and all states to recognize any marriage that was valid in the state where it was performed.1GovInfo. Public Law 117-228 – Respect for Marriage Act
One rule people still ask about: blood tests. Every state has dropped the old requirement to be tested for sexually transmitted infections before getting a license, so you won’t need one anywhere.
A handful of states also recognize common law marriage, where a couple becomes legally married by agreement, cohabitation, and holding themselves out as married, without any license or ceremony. In the rest of the country, living together creates no marital status no matter how long it lasts. If you want certainty about your legal standing, go through the formal license-and-ceremony process described below.
Get a Marriage License
The marriage license is the legal document that gives you permission to marry. You get it from the clerk’s office, usually at the county or city level, in the jurisdiction where you plan to hold the ceremony. Most offices require both partners to appear in person together, though a growing number let you start the application online.
What to Bring
Expect to provide valid government-issued photo identification such as a driver’s license or passport, your Social Security numbers, and basic biographical details including your parents’ full legal names. If either of you has been married before, bring proof the prior marriage ended, typically a certified divorce decree or the former spouse’s death certificate. A few jurisdictions also ask for a birth certificate, though most accept a valid ID as sufficient proof of age.
Fees and Waiting Periods
License fees generally fall between $25 and $115, payable in cash or by card. Some jurisdictions discount the fee if you complete a premarital education course. Many places impose a waiting period between application and when the license becomes valid, anywhere from 24 hours to several days. Others, like many courts in Virginia and Nevada, have no waiting period at all, which is part of why those states are popular for quick weddings.
How Long the License Lasts
Once issued, the license is good for a limited window, usually 30 to 90 days depending on where you got it. The ceremony has to happen inside that window. If it doesn’t, you’ll pay for a new license and start over.
Hold the Ceremony
With a valid license, the next step is the ceremony. The law doesn’t care whether it happens in a cathedral, a courthouse, or a backyard. What matters is who performs it and that the paperwork gets signed.
Who Can Officiate
The ceremony must be conducted by someone legally authorized to solemnize marriages. That typically includes judges, magistrates, justices of the peace, county clerks, ordained clergy, and certain other government officials. In most states a friend or family member can also officiate by getting ordained online or obtaining a one-day authorization from a local court. The rules on who qualifies vary, so check with your clerk’s office before assuming an online ordination will be accepted where you’re marrying.
A few states let couples marry themselves through what’s called self-solemnization. Colorado is the best-known example and requires no officiant or witnesses at all. Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia offer similar options. If skipping an officiant appeals to you, confirm your state allows it before relying on this route.
Witnesses
Most jurisdictions require one or two adult witnesses, generally at least 18 years old, to be present at the ceremony and sign the marriage license alongside the couple and the officiant. The witness requirement exists so someone besides the two of you can verify the ceremony took place. Don’t treat it as an afterthought. A missing witness signature can create problems when the license is filed.
File the Signed License and Order Your Certificates
The ceremony doesn’t finish the job. The signed marriage license has to be returned to the clerk’s office that issued it, and in most places this is the officiant’s responsibility. Deadlines are strict, typically a few days to 30 days after the ceremony. If your officiant is a friend who got ordained for the occasion, make sure they understand they’re legally obligated to file the paperwork on time. A license sitting in someone’s desk drawer doesn’t create a recorded marriage.
Once the clerk processes the returned license, your marriage is officially on the books. You can then request certified copies of your marriage certificate, which is the document you’ll actually use as proof of your marriage going forward. Certificates aren’t mailed to you automatically. You have to request them and pay a small fee, usually $10 to $35 per copy depending on the jurisdiction. Order several at once. You’ll use them for name changes, insurance updates, tax filings, immigration paperwork, and more, and ordering extras up front is easier than requesting them one at a time later.
When a Prenup Belongs in the Picture
If you or your partner own significant assets, run a business, have children from a previous relationship, or carry substantial debt, consider a prenuptial agreement before the wedding. A prenup is a written contract between two people about to marry that spells out how property and debts would be divided if the marriage ends in divorce or death.
For a prenup to hold up, it generally needs to be in writing and signed by both parties before the wedding, both people must disclose their finances honestly, and neither party can have been pressured into signing. An agreement handed over the morning of the ceremony is a textbook example of what courts tend to throw out. Most states have adopted some version of the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, which sets these baseline standards, though specifics vary.
Hiring a lawyer to draft a prenup typically runs $1,500 to $10,000 depending on complexity and location. That’s real money, but it’s a fraction of what contested divorce litigation costs when there’s no agreement in place.
If You’re Marrying Someone Who Isn’t a U.S. Citizen
The marriage itself follows the same steps already described. The license, the ceremony, and the filing look no different. What changes is what comes after if you want to sponsor your spouse for a green card, which triggers a separate federal process through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Sponsorship starts with Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. If your spouse is already in the United States, you can usually file Form I-485 (the green card application) at the same time, known as concurrent filing. If your spouse is abroad, the case routes through a U.S. consulate instead. Either path also requires Form I-130A with supplemental information about your spouse.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-130, Petition for Alien Relative
As the sponsor, you’ll need to show you can financially support your spouse by filing Form I-864, Affidavit of Support. Household income must meet at least 125% of the federal poverty guidelines. For 2026 that means a minimum of $27,050 for a household of two in the 48 contiguous states and D.C., with higher thresholds in Alaska ($33,813) and Hawaii ($31,113) and increases for each additional household member.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. HHS Poverty Guidelines for Affidavit of Support Active-duty military sponsors need to meet only 100% of the guidelines.
USCIS also scrutinizes spousal petitions for fraud, so you’ll need to show the marriage is bona fide. Strong evidence includes joint bank accounts, a lease or mortgage in both names, shared utility bills, birth certificates of children you have together, and affidavits from people who know you as a couple.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 6, Part B, Chapter 6 – Spouses If the marriage is less than two years old when the green card is approved, your spouse receives conditional permanent residence that must be converted to full permanent residence by filing Form I-751 before the two-year mark.